The question of who Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls, and why he is changing the law to shield his phone records from scrutiny, was front and centre as the government returned to Queen’s Park Monday.

Shortly before returning from an extended, 14-week winter break, the Progressive Conservatives announced they would retroactively change transparency laws in Ontario to give government staff and cabinet ministers near blanket immunity from freedom of information requests.

The proposals, which will be included in the budget, will exclude the premier, his cabinet, their parliamentary assistants and staff from access to information requests.

It will also exclude them from transparency oversight and privacy protections put in place to protect personal data and sensitive government documents.

Because the law is retroactive, it is likely to nullify a court decision that recently went against Ford and the government over how he uses his cellphone.

For years, Global News has been involved in a transparency battle over Premier Ford’s personal cellphone call logs.

Government lawyers have acknowledged Ford doesn’t use his work phone and makes government calls on his personal device, but have refused to divulge who he speaks to.

The Information and Privacy Commissioner ordered Ford to prepare his cellphone records for disclosure at the end of 2024, before the government sought a judicial review. It lost that case in less than three weeks and was seeking leave to appeal before moving to change the law.

In an attempt to circumvent the legal change, the Ontario NDP sought a Speaker’s warrant on Monday.

The rarely used parliamentary tool would ask Speaker Donna Skelly to use her powers to compel Ford to hand over his cellphone records. The motion the NDP tabled, however, would need government support to pass and is, in itself, non-binding.

Still, NDP Leader Marit Stiles said her party would keep trying to slow the government’s changes.

“I would say, once again, that we will try everything and anything to protect the rights of the people of this province, to know how their tax dollars are being used,” she told reporters.

Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said it was the function of opposition parties and the legislature as a whole to challenge and prosecute government legislation.

He said Skelly, who was elected as a Progressive Conservative, must consider the request on its merits — not her previous political association.

“She’s in a tight spot; her job is to be neutral. That’s her job,” Fraser said. “It’ll be up to her. I can’t say what she’s going to do. The reality is the premier is avoiding accountability and scrutiny because he has something to hide and this place we have here is all about shining a light on stuff.”

Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner echoed the sentiment.

“I think we need to use all the tools at our disposal to have the premier be honest with the people of Ontario,” he told reporters.

But Skelly said she cannot act on non-binding motions.

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